News/Media

More Than Three Tons Of Aluminum Recycled At Bristol Motor Speedway Following Sharpie 500 Weekend

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Three-plus tons of aluminum will find new life following the recent Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, track officials and their partners announced today.

With continuing help from Thompson Metals, of Kingsport, Tenn., and Anheuser-Busch Recycling Corporation (A-BRC) of St. Louis, nearly 6,200 pounds of aluminum was processed through the recycling bins and post-race collections following the NASCAR weekend less than two weeks ago.

"A lot of different factors have played into the growth of this program," said BMS president and general manager Jeff Byrd. "We increased our outreach to fans before the event through e-mails and our magazine, which goes to ticket holders. With the help of A-BRC and Holston Distributing, we added signage on the property during the event in addition to giving flyers to our campers to advise them of curbside pickup.

"We increased the number of bins in our hospitality area and the coverage the program received in the media was a huge help in making people aware. On top of that, it's the responsible thing to do and our fans, obviously, are taking pride in being a part of it."

The tonnage is the estimated equivalent to 210,000 12 oz. aluminum cans and provides more than $3,300 to the Bristol Chapter of Speedway Children's Charities with the returns.

In 11 years, Bristol's Speedway Children's Charities has given more than $4 million to groups serving children in this region. In 2008 alone, 83 groups received $575,000.

"It is obvious the decision we made last year to increase this program with the help of Thompson Metals, who recycles the material for us and our friends at A-BRC giving us the bins for our property and disposal bags for our campers was the right decision," Byrd said. "It continues to pay dividends that, in our opinion, only will increase."

Recycling Statistics: Approximately 1,500 aluminum cans are recycled every second in the U.S.; Recycling an aluminum can saves 96% of the energy used to make a can from ore, and produces 95% less air pollution and 97% less water pollution.; It takes the energy equivalent of half a soda can of gasoline to produce one soda can from bauxite ore.; In 2008, 54% of all aluminum cans were being recycled in the U.S.A(Source: A-BRC)